Thugs jailed for brutal homophobic attack

A man was thrashed with his own belt in a violent towpath assault slammed as “gay bashing” by a judge.

Philip Brooker was left with severe cuts and bruises following the attack in an alleyway next to the River Kennet in Reading town centre.

Before the incident Mr Brooker – called a “queer b*****d” during the assault – believed he was going to have sexual encounters with his attackers Keron Walker and Darren Brown, Reading Crown Court heard.

So he decided to walk home with them after meeting them in St Mary’s Butts in Reading town centre following a night out at the nearby Purple Turtle nightclub.

Mr Brooker had not met either Walker or Brown before the night of the attack on August 19, 2008.

The court heard as the three approached the start of the towpath Mr Brooker started to stroke Brown’s neck and put his arm around Walker’s waist.

It was around this point the pair began to kick and punch Mr Brooker. One or both of them whipped Mr Brooker with his belt.

Mr Brooker, in his 30s, was left with dark bruising and swelling following the incident.

A Newton Hearing took place at the court on Tuesday last week.

This is a trial heard only in front of a judge, with no jury, because of a dispute over the facts of the case.

Both men admitted a count of assault occasioning actual bodily harm but denied assaulting Mr Brooker because of his sexuality and using a belt to hit him.

Giving evidence, Mr Brooker, who confirmed the pair knew he was gay, said: “I was led to believe they were willing and ready.”

Brown gave evidence in the dock during the hearing. He said Mr Brooker was “intoxicated”.

He claimed he did not realise Mr Brooker’s advances were sexual and initially thought he was being “over-friendly”.

“[But then] I began to feel uncomfortable. He started touching the bottom of my back. I struck out and punched Mr Brooker. He fell towards Keron who was kicking him,” he said. “He [Mr Brooker] was shouting and crying.

“His advances got inappropriate so I pushed him. I shouldn’t have done it.”

Walker did not give evidence in court but a police interview was read out where he claimed Brown attacked Mr Brooker with a branch.

He suggested he stood back and felt sorry for Mr Brooker and that Brown was “bang out of order”.

Phillipa Page, prosecuting, said it was “ludicrous” for both men to claim they had not used the belt. “Are you suggesting he whipped himself?” she asked.

“You were shouting homophobic insults, ‘you queer b*****d’ and so on. This was a brutal attack.”

But Judge Anthony King rejected the pair’s basis of plea, deeming them both “liars”.

He said while he accepted the duo had not set out to seduce and lure Mr Brooker to the towpath, they knew he was gay before they started their walk home and had planned to attack.

Judge King, sentencing Brown to three years and three months and Walker to two years, said: “This was gay bashing.

“Mr Brooker is a homosexual so you beat him. His own belt was used to thrash him. He thought you two had agreed to homosexual activities.”

Walker, 28, is of Norwood Road, Newtown, and Brown, 30, is of Straight Road, Old Windsor.